This section describes the roles which are involved in creating and maintaining a website. As a site owner, you need to manage all these roles, and as a prospective web master, you need to ensure that the software you choose to implement your site is able to support them to the extent that your objectives require.

As this site is about TYPO3, much of the discussion is to demonstrate that TYPO3 is up to the job.

Site Roles

Owner

The Owner is the person who is overall responsible for a web-related project. As an owner you need to be assured before commissioning a job that the software concerned can cope with the demands of the site, and also that you apportion all the necessary roles so that all aspects of the site will be managed effectively.

Host/Server

The Host is the organisation which supplies the web server which delivers your site to its audience. Nearly all organisations outsource this function.

Vendor

The Vendor is the company, or group, that produces and markets your CMS, and any other software you will be running on the server.

Administrator

An administrator manages the permissions accorded to users and user groups so as to realise the objectives of security, usability and manageability.

Engineer/Programmer

Engineer - responsible for installing, configuring and possibly developing, the functionality which the others above work with, and for realising the work of the designer in code.

Designer

The designer is responsible for the look and feel of your site.The visual design is the first thing a visitor is aware of, so visual design can be a major determinant of whether a visitor stays with the site, or not.

Editor/Moderator

Editors and Moderators are responsible for approving content entered either from the front- or back- end. Moderators screen contributions from the front-end, to prevent unsuitable material appearing on the site: they do not normally edit this material. Editors manage back-end contributions, and this may involve rewriting.

Contributors

Contributors provide the raw content for the site. They may be users, adding material through the front-end, back-end contributors adding material directly through the back-end, or other content owners or sources.

Visitors

A Visitor is A person who views the site passively and anonymously from the front end.

Users/Members

Users or members are people who have permission to interact with your site in an active way. Members normally have additional material or activities which are open to them. Membership structures support the creation of a sense of community.

Managing the roles does not mean assigning each of them to one or more individuals. It actually means ensuring that you have accounted for them, and that you are clear who will perform the roles within your project.